Gary Vaynerchuck Returns to Chicago This Saturday
September 18, 2008
Reading time: 1 - 2 minutes
Gary Vaynerchuck passionate wine expert, entrepreneur, and host of Wine Library TV will be returning to the Chicago area. Gary was in Chicago earlier this summer as the keynote speaker for the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE.
Join him for an intimate evening at the historic Woodstock Opera House. The event will be held September 20th 2008 at 8pm. Gary will discuss his passion for wine and join guests for a wine and cheese reception. He will also be doing a book signing. Frank Gruber, TECH cocktail co-founder, will be introducing Gary at the event.
Tickets are still available. If you’re in the Chicago area this is an event that should not be missed.
TECH cocktail Chicago 8 Photos
June 10, 2008
Reading time: < 1 minute
We just uploaded the rest of the photos from TECH cocktail Chicago 8. The talented photographer Clayton Hauck captured the atmosphere at John Barleycorn Wrigleyville on Thursday, May 29, 2008. There are just over one hundred photos that you can view in the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 photo gallery.
Enjoy!
TECH cocktail Thanks You
June 1, 2008
Reading time: 8 - 12 minutes
On Thursday May 29, 2008 in Chicago we had an action packed day of TECH cocktail activities which included our first ever full day conference, TECH cocktail CONFERENCE, followed by our 8th Chicago mixer, TECH cocktail Chicago 8. It was a lot of fun as we were able to further our mission of better connecting and amplifying the technology signal by bringing together some of the TECH cocktail community leaders from Boston, Boulder, DC and Chicago as speakers at the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE which attracted close to 300 guests. From the opening ceremonies where we played the TECH cocktail Song to Gary Vaynerchuk wrapping up the day of speakers it was a lot of fun. All the speakers did an amazing job and we are very appreciative of their participation and support.
Check out the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE photos taken by the very talented Leora Zellman. Additional photos from TECH cocktail Chicago 8 are coming soon. Also The Chicago Tech Report was quick to put out some videos from the conference sessions and speaker - watch the Chicago Tech Report here.
Gary Vaynerchuk of WLTV points to the crowd at TECH cocktail CONFERENCE.
Dick Costolo founder/CEO of Feedburner speaks at TECH cocktail CONFERENCE.
Harper Reed & Scott Van Den Plas of Threadless.com speak at TECH cocktail CONFERENCE.
But don’t take our word for it, check out these blog posts about the event:
CenterNetworks’ Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
The May Report’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
David Dalka’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
Nick O’Neill’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
Gal’s Guide Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
VC in China’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
Tim Courtney’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
Of course there were skeptics too and everyone is entitled to their own opinion:
Mark Neigh’s Take on TECH cocktail CONFERENCE
Thanks for the candid feedback Mark.
After the conference we hosted our eighth mixer event on the north side of Chicago at John Barleycorn Wrigleyville. The event attracted conference goers as a perfect ending to the conference plus was open to the public which added another 400+ guests (so we had about 650 TECH cocktailers RSVP). The mixer event was sponsored by AOL, Illinois Ventures, Sun, Illinois Technology Partnership, ChicagoMicro, Dash Navigation, Kirix, Singleton Law Firm and Interactive Intelligence with special TECH cocktail drinks served by Death Door Spirits.
Special thanks to our preferred service providers Jess3, FR&R, Hinshaw Law and Teaming for Technology Chicago. Additionally, we offered an opportunity to purchase a 50/50 raffle ticket for the Chicago Children’s Charity. Congrats to Sharon Chewning and thank you for your ticket contribution as fifty percent of it will be donated to Chicago Children’s Charity in TECH cocktail’s name.
Edmodo demos at the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event.
The event also lined up 10 startup demos so that they could show off some interesting technology. The following startups showed off their stuff at the event:
coloring.com - A Chicago-based startup devoted to offering its users fresh and fun new images to color online.
crowdSPRING - Leveraging the wisdom and design skills of the crowds this Chicago-based startup has created a marketplace for design opportunities.
DASH Navigation - Creating a truly interactive experience by combining the power of the Web and a GPS navigation system DASH has produced a very unique offering.
Edmodo - A self-funded bootstrapping startup co-founded by Jeff O’Hara and Nic Borg offers microblogging for education and groups.
isocket - isocket is a marketplace and platform for any kind of advertising. By providing the right environment and tools for advertising buyers and sellers, isocket enables easier, more effective advertising regardless of type or budget.
Snap and Buy - Currently in private beta, Snap and Buy looks to offer up comparison shopping while on the go via your mobile device with a camera.
Kirix - A Chicago-based startup, is looking to help change that by exposing your data in a Web browser experience with the launch tomorrow of Strata. Strata is a powerful set of tools that enables anyone to access, browse and manipulate data from a Web browser.
OneLlama - A product of six employee Champaign, Illinois-based startup One Llama Media, leverages audio analysis, search and discovery systems to offer a place for music lovers to discover, listen, share and buy new music.
The Point - A Chicago-based startup, enables users to create and join campaigns around any issue or idea.
tvCompass - tvCompass has developed an innovative second screen interactive TV, content and advertising monetization model for the WiFi connected digital living room. tvCompass officially launched its product with ESPN - on Tuesday, May 20. ESPN The Ultimate Remote is now available for order by consumers worldwide through our initial retail channel partner, Amazon.com.
Thank you to all the companies and products involved and for more details on the startups check out the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 preview.
Thank you to all that come out to any of our TECH cocktail activities. Find out about all our upcoming events via email by clicking here to subscribe. We also have a twitter account you can follow by clicking here. Additionally, we are on Flickr, Facebook and LinkedIn - friend us up and keep on top of all the TECH cocktail happenings.
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE Today Is Sold Out - 11 Tickets Offered At The Door
May 29, 2008
Reading time: < 1 minute
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE day is here and we sold out! But if you didn’t get a chance to grab ticket and still want to see the hottest show in town (other than the Chicago Cubs of course) I would trot down to Kasbeer Hall today and buy a ticket at the door. We have 11 more tickets to offer on a first come, first serve basis. See you there!
TECH cocktail Chicago 8 Preview
May 28, 2008
Reading time: 6 - 9 minutes
Following the first 
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE we will be hosting our 8th Chicago TECH cocktail mixer event. With over 600 guests RSVP’ed it should be another super event. The event it sponsored by AOL, Illinois Ventures, Sun, Illinois Technology Partnership, ChicagoMicro, Dash Navigation, Kirix, Singleton Law Firm and Interactive Intelligence with special TECH cocktail drinks served by Death Door Spirits.
As we look to help amplify the technology signal the following startups will showcase their stuff at the event:
coloring.com - A Chicago-based startup devoted to offering its users fresh and fun new images to color online. Just remember to stay between the lines. You will be able to color at TECH cocktail if you like. Check out the video introduction to coloring.com by founder Carlos Pero below.
crowdSPRING - Leveraging the wisdom and design skills of the crowds this Chicago-based startup has created a marketplace for design opportunities. If you have a specific design project that you are looking for design help with you can post it with a price and the crowdSPRING design community will compete for it.
DASH Navigation - Creating a truly interactive experience by combining the power of the Web and a GPS navigation system DASH has produced a very unique offering. Check out the video introduction to the DASH Express below which features Chicago-native Mark Williamson, the Online Director at Dash.
Edmodo - A self-funded bootstrapping startup co-founded by Jeff O’Hara and Nic Borg offers microblogging for education and groups. Since both co-founders work in education, they wanted to do something to help others in the space. They also noticed there were not microblogging platforms available with the rostering and privacy options needed in the educational space - so they decided to build Edmodo.
iSocket - iSocket is a marketplace and platform for any kind of advertising. By providing the right environment and tools for advertising buyers and sellers, isocket enables easier, more effective advertising regardless of type or budget. isocket is the first commission-free advertising exchange. isocket uses an open exchange format. Buyers can bid on advertising opportunities or purchase at list price. Sellers are not bound to accept any bids, let alone the highest one. isocket gives users full control over where each dollar is spent and who it comes from.
Snap and Buy - Currently in private beta, Snap and Buy looks to offer up comparison shopping while on the go via your mobile device with a camera. The system enables consumers to take photos of barcodes while shopping and send them to Snap and Buy, then its sends you back information on related products in an effort to find you the best deal.
Kirix - A Chicago-based startup, is looking to help change that by exposing your data in a Web browser experience with the launch tomorrow of Strata. Strata is a powerful set of tools that enables anyone to access, browse and manipulate data from a Web browser.
OneLlama - A product of six employee Champaign, Illinois-based startup One Llama Media, leverages audio analysis, search and discovery systems to offer a place for music lovers to discover, listen, share and buy new music.
The Point - A Chicago-based startup, enables users to create and join campaigns around any issue or idea. Campaigns can be setup to raise money, plan an event or take action. Set campaign parameters are made clear and no one pays or has to do anything until campaign reaches its set tipping point.
tvCompass - tvCompass has developed an innovative second screen interactive TV, content and advertising monetization model for the WiFi connected digital living room. The solution offering is a white label OEM wireless infrastructure platform, content to player — that works without a PC connection; it includes client, server and application software, mobile content, and IP connected digital media remote device designs for the control & interaction of advanced digital home entertainment, and is based on proprietary and patented technology. Content support for other wireless enabled platforms may include WiFi dual mode phones, WiFi personal media devices, networked TVs, and LCD tablets.
Thanks to all the demo’ers for your participation. Special thanks to our preferred service providers Jess3, FR&R, Hinshaw Law and Teaming for Technology Chicago. Additionally, upon arrival to TECH cocktail Chicago 8 you will be offered an opportunity to purchase a 50/50 raffle ticket for the Chicago Children’s Charity. This should be a super day of events and we look forward to seeing you there!
The Ballad of TECH cocktail
May 27, 2008
Reading time: < 1 minute
In preparation of the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE taking place on Thursday, May 29th in Chicago we thought it might be nice to offer up a little musical flavor in the form of the TECH cocktail Song which is a bit of a ballad. Enjoy!
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE Preview
May 27, 2008
Reading time: 7 - 12 minutes
With the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE just a few days away we wanted to take a moment to preview our super lineup of speakers. The conference will be taking place on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at Loyola University Water Tower Campus, 25 E. Pearson in Chicago, Illinois and offers two separate session tracks spread between the Kasbeer Hall and Room 208 which offers a more intimate conversational setting.
Special thanks to AOL for sponsoring our first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE event. It is much appreciated and could not be possible with the support.
Check out the schedule below:
8:00 a.m. - The day will start with a continental breakfast.
8:45 a.m. - TECH cocktail co-founders Eric Olson and Frank Gruber giving a brief welcoming address.
9:00 a.m. - Mike Domek founded TicketsNow in his Woodstock, Illinois apartment and recently sold it Ticketmaster. Mike will speak about his experiences and how you can start a business anywhere.
9:35 a.m. - There are two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: Watch the tech leads at community driven startup skinnyCorp/Threadless.com as Harper Reed and Scott VanDenPlas speak with technology agnosticism. The title of our presentation will be “The path to agnosticism.” Breakout Room 208: Find out how Seth Godin’s startup Squidoo leveraged ad supported Web 2.0 business model and became. Brian Williams and Corey Web will discuss the approach they took along with tips on becoming profitable in a session titled “9 Tips to Profitability: How Squidoo Did It.”
10:10 a.m. - There are two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: Sit in on a panel discussion lead by Sean Ammirati of mSpoke and a ReadWriteWeb contributor will moderate as a great cast of social application experts which includes Keith Schacht, Troy Henikoff, Nick O’Neill and Alex Bard. They will discuss Facebook, widgets and all things social. Breakout Room 208: The FeedBurner design duo of John Zeratsky and Matt Shobe (now with Google) will take a look at how you design products with users in mind.
10:50 a.m. - There are two tracks to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: Adrian Holovaty creator Django, ChicagoCrime.org and now EveryBlock will discuss starting up in the Midwest and avoiding the Silicon Valley Echo Chamber. Breakout Room 208: Mike Macadaan of AOL and Ant Creed of Intuit will be in the breakout session solving problems by taking an innovative approach in a very hands on session called “Innovate in 30 Minutes.”
11:25 a.m. - There are two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: What is the deal with partnerships? Are they good or bad? How do you know? Nick Fera founded a Chicago-based company called Parlano which was acquired by Microsoft last year and will hope to help answer these very questions and more around partnerships. Breakout Room 208: Micah Baldwin, from the Colorado-based search company Lijit, has made it his quest to be the #1 Douchebag on Google and he will explain. Micah will break the session into two parts. Part 1 will discuss how SEO is no longer just about content, code and links, but now includes the intertwining of personal brand into any SEO plan. Part 2 will be a site review, with session goers being able to have Micah review their sites from an SEO perspective and provide insight and suggestions in real time.
11:45 a.m. - LUNCH BREAK
12:00 p.m. - During lunch Your Inner CEO author Allan Cox will coach us all along as we look for that inner CEO.
12:30 p.m. - After lunch Jason Fried, founder of Chicago-based 37signals, will share his experiences about what works and what doesn’t in web development and how the unconventional methodologies followed by 37signals give it an edge.
1:05 p.m. - Two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: A panel moderated by Nate Westheimer and made up of Evan Brown, Daliah Saper, Gary Barron & Ed Mullen will discuss legal and accounting as they are an essential part of starting and running a business. Breakout Room 208: Jared Goralnick of AwayFind offers up productivity hacks and tips of social media, email and business.
1:40 p.m. - Two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: A panel moderated by Sean Ammirati and made up of PR, marketing and social media experts, Danielle Wiley, David Armano, Frank Gruber & Geoff Livingston, explore creating a brand leveraging social media. Breakout Room 208: Jason Rexilius of HostedLABS will tell his story and explain cloud computing and how it can be used to help your business scale.
2:25 p.m. - Two sessions to choose from. Kasbeer Hall: A panel moderated by Shawn Bolan and made-up of three very talented women, Jen Consalvo, Genevieve Thiers & Blagica Bottigliero, will discuss how important it is to understand your audience. Breakout Room 208: Do you understand the Semantic Web? Fraser Kelton looks to help you understand it better.
3:00 p.m. - Finding funding for your business can sometimes be a challenge. Eric Olson will moderate the panel of experts, Matthew McCall, Kirk Wolfe, Rob Schultz, Bruce Barron & Brad Feld, as they offer their expert perspective and experiences.
3:35 p.m. - Dick “The Wizard” Costolo, CEO/founder of FeedBurner which was acquired by Google in 2007, will offer up an open forum for asking questions in a session called “Ask the Wizard.”
4:10 p.m. - Changing the wine world with Wine Library TV and transforming a tradition wine business with the help of social media Gary Vaynerchuk will bring the thunder and explain how he did it. You are definitely going to want to hang around to see Gary anchor the full day of speakers.
4:45 p.m. - Finally, Eric and Frank will give details on the evening proceedings - TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event at John Barleycorn Wrigleyville.
Check out the full TECH cocktail CONFERENCE schedule. Hope to see you there!
Video: TECH cocktail RACING Preview
May 16, 2008
Reading time: 2 - 3 minutes
Saturday… Saturday … Saturday! Start your engines as Threadless.com, a Chicago-based skinnyCorp operated company and TECH cocktail supporter, will be hosting a Pine Wood Derby race called the THREADLEMANSS. Unfortunately, Eric and I won’t be able to attend as we are pretty busy right now getting ready for TECH cocktail CONFERENCE (did you sign up yet?!). But thanks to twitter we found out that TECH cocktailer Carlos Pero of coloring.com has a son that was recently undefeated in his Cub Scouts Pine Wood Derby. We leverage the power of twitter technology (follow techcocktail on twitter) to see if Carlos would like to lead the TECH cocktail RACING effort and thankfully he accepted.
Carlos is featured this week on episode 25 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV video (below) as he previews our TECH cocktail RACING car and shares some Pine Wood Derby knowledge. Thank you Carlos for your help and good luck on Saturday! You can cheer on the TECH cocktail car this Saturday, May 17, 2008 as Threadless will be streaming the derby live.
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE is Coming - Badge It Up!
May 2, 2008
Reading time: 5 - 8 minutes
TECH cocktail CONFERENCE is just a month away and it is shaping up to be a super event, which brings together expert TECH cocktailers from across the country to help other TECH cocktailers learn from their experiences and take a “no nonsense” approach to running a business, leveraging technology and the Web.
The goal of the conference is to assist attendees by bringing them essential business startup tips, advice and knowledge from a super-cast of successful founders, developers and entrepreneurs.
If you have not purchased a ticket to the event at the early bird low price of $225 you should do so now, as supply is limited. If you want to save a little bit on the ticket simply use the discount code: techcocktailers since we are trying to make this event as easy and low cost as we can, while still covering the costs associated with hosting an event of this nature.
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The conference agenda is as follows:
- Building a business anywhere (not just Silicon Valley)
- Leveraging new technologies and social media to help your business
- Getting your business funded
- Discovering your Inner CEO
- Growing a community around a traditional business
Some of our speakers include the following, with speaker bios here:
MIKE DOMEK - TicketsNow / Ticketmaster
DICK COSTOLO - FeedBurner / Google
JASON FRIED -37signals
HARPER REED - skinnyCorp / Threadless.com
GARY VAYNERCHUK - Wine Library TV
GENEVIEVE THIERS - Sittercity
KEITH SCHACHT - 42 Friends
NICK FERA - Parlano / Microsoft
BLAGICA BOTTIGLIERO - CondoPerks & Gals’ Guide
JEN CONSALVO - AOL
MICAH BALDWIN - Lijit
JARED GORALNICK - AwayFind
DAVID ARMANO - Critical Mass
MIKE MACADAAN - AOL
ALEX BARD - Goowy Media / AOL
ROB SCHULTZ - IllinoisVENTURES
BRUCE N. BARRON - Origin Ventures
DALIAH SAPER - Saper Law Offices, LLC
MATT SHOBE - FeedBurner / Google
EVAN BROWN - Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
SEAN AMMIRATI - mSpoke / ReadWriteWeb
ANT CREED - Intuit
TROY HENIKOFF - Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center
ALLAN COX - Author of Your Inner CEO
JASON REXILIUS - HostedLABS
DANIELLE WILEY - Edelman
MATT MCCALL - DFJ Portage Ventures
BRIAN SOLIS - FutureWorks
BRIAN WILLIAMS - Viget Labs
GEOFF LIVINGSTON - Livingston Communications
FRASER KELTON - AdaptiveBlue
BRAD FELD - Foundry Group
KIRK WOLFE -MK Capital
GARY BARRON - Frost Ruttenberg & Rothblatt, PC
NICK O’NEILL - Social Times
JOHN ZERASKY - FeedBurner / Google
FRANK GRUBER - TECH cocktail / SOMEWHAT FRANK / AOL
ERIC OLSON - TECH cocktail / DFJ Portage Ventures
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TECH cocktail Chicago 8 Mixer To Follow CONFERENCE
April 29, 2008
Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes
We are happy to announce the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event will follow TECH cocktail CONFERENCE on May 29, 2008. You should definitely try and make it to the conference as it is a going to be a “can’t miss” event as we bring together an all-star cast of TECH cocktailers for a full day, potent, conference concoction. Also, if you sign up for the conference here you will automatically secure a ticket for the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event. If you cannot make the conference, you can still sign up to just attend TECH cocktail Chicago 8 mixer event on a first come first serve basis below.
Here are the TECH cocktail Chicago 8 details:
- Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Time: 6:30 pm CT - 9:00 pm CT
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Location:
John Barleycorn Wrigleyville
3524 N Clark St - Upstairs
Chicago, IL 60657
If you are interested in sponsoring TECH cocktail Chicago 8 or our conference we still have spots open so please contact us as soon as possible - more information on sponsoring is here. We run these events to break even and would love to do so on this second event. Also if you are interested in demoing your startup product or service please contact us. See you there!
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Sponsors
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Preferred Services Providers
Preferred Accounting Services Provider: Frost, Ruttenberg & Rothblatt, P.C. 
Preferred Legal Services Provider:
Hinshaw & Culbertson
Preferred Charity:
Teaming for Technology
Preferred Creative Service Provider: Jess3 
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